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This beauty, pictured chilling in my garden yesterday, is a Comma butterfly named because of the white ‘comma’ on its underside.Commas, along with apostrophes, are commonly used incorrectly in writing. Do you know how to use them? Every time you write a business communication you are saying something about yourself and your brand. Rightly or wrongly, if you have bad spelling or misuse punctuation some potential customers will think less of you for it and maybe move on to the next brand.So what can you do? You could spend hours swotting up on grammar and spelling, or you could hire someone who already knows all about it to help. Startups and small businesses often think this extravagant, but the latest thinking on entrepreneurship maintains that you should spend as much time as possible doing what you do best. This is getting new customers and maintaining your current ones. Not checking emails and voicemails, ordering stationery, tidying your desk, fixing a leaking tap, or cleaning. Neither is it spending hours learning how to do something someone else could have been paid to do in an hour, just to save money.Let’s say you spend six hours swotting up on grammar, writing and rewriting a letter or press release when it really isn’t in your skill set to do it. Not only is the letter or press release likely to be pretty ineffective, you’ve lost six hours where you could have made hundreds or thousands of pounds’ worth of business had you focused on what you do best.You may be surprised at what you can get for even a modest budget. Your budget may not stretch to a copywriter to write all your communications, but it may stretch to having them proofread and edit things for you before they go out. It may pay for them to tweet and post to Facebook on your behalf, write a killer marketing letter, or just share some great advice.Sending a clear, consistent message to your current and target customers is vital. If you struggle with writing, consider bringing in some help. Please do call me for a no obligation chat if you think I could help. Datgan – let us tell your story.